E30 R&D... I need my head examined...

[DCColegrove]

You see...

I have this soft spot for the BMW e30.

I worked for BMW at the time these were rolling off the assembly line and the truth is I was just so happy to see the end of the e21s...

The trouble is I get wound up and bury myself into heavy R&D on a machine that is no less than 18 years old...obsolete.

Since coming to the end of the R&D phase of this last project (the rear Shock Tower/Trunk Floor Brace) it is becoming ever clearer to me that I must be insane.

I have put something like 200 hours and god knows how much cash...right down to and including what was spent on coffee so I could stay up nights and obsess over it.

And the kids are eating M&Ms from under the couch cushions and can't remember what dad looks like.

I stopped working on the e30 in 1998 (last Zen e30 was in '97) and started again just a couple of years ago (I dunno what I was thinking) but it may be time to move on.

The E46 has issues I am acutely aware of and I know I can solve...And these fuckers even have money to pay for it.

...Of course then, I always get depressed at the close of an interesting project.

[matt]

Interesting thread premise... I'll try to translate this into "r3v"

"You guys are cheap and don't appreciate it, so I'm not going to make you any more cool parts."

Can't say I blame you.

[mrsleeve]

matt you beat me too it

[george graves]

The E46 has issues I am acutely aware of and I know I can solve...And these fuckers even have money to pay for it.

^note to self

[DCColegrove]

Interesting thread premise... I'll try to translate this into "r3v"

"You guys are cheap and don't appreciate it, so I'm not going to make you any more cool parts."

Can't say I blame you.

Not just R3V...

These guys have actually been pretty good (at least when they bitch they are creative about it)

[Jon325i]

Interesting thread premise... I'll try to translate this into "r3v"

"You guys are cheap and don't appreciate it, so I'm not going to make you any more cool parts."

Can't say I blame you.

Sad but true. As the E30 has aged and depreciated in value, it has been relegated to a budget tuner car - and more recently, a budget racer in the form of SpecE30. Its a good starter car for the young enthusiast, but usually this means the buyer often doesn't have a lot to spend due to a myriad of reasons (school, military, etc.). This is why the tuners have to evolve their products as brands of cars evolve. You have to keep up with the game if you want to survive and make a decent living at it. And the buyers of these new(er) cars often are more established financially so they're more likely to have discretionary income to spend personalizing their car.

Jon

[DCColegrove]

Sad but true. As the E30 has aged and depreciated in value, it has been relegated to a budget tuner car - and more recently, a budget racer in the form of SpecE30. Its a good starter car for the young enthusiast, but usually this means the buyer often doesn't have a lot to spend due to a myriad of reasons (school, military, etc.). This is why the tuners have to evolve their products as brands of cars evolve. You have to keep up with the game if you want to survive and make a decent living at it. And the buyers of these new(er) cars often are more established financially so they're more likely to have discretionary income to spend personalizing their car.

Jon

This is all true, like I said I have a soft spot for the e30...

In my opinion it was probably the best car ever built, and certainly the e30 M3s were legendary, one of the top all time motorsport successes.

And I do work with the e46 and e90s as well, I just don't get as.... Nostalgic? though.

[Stephen]

Hmm.. true

things like your hood seals seem to go off the shelves pretty quick, maybe do stuff like that, while dabbling in e46 stuff?

[devonjordan]

I have an e46...

and I promise, when I get back into an e30, Daniel, your going to build for me an s42...

[BeirBrennerE30]

nooo... there are people with money and e30's. honestly!!! build it and they will come.

[Julien]

says the guy with p-calipers :-D



to the OP:
Surf e46 fanatics for a few days, the level of douchebagetry in that forum is unsurpassed.... but they do have money... Buy a roll of carbon fiber stickers and apply it to all the parts you sell, it'll work like a charm.


Julien

[devonjordan]

Buy a roll of carbon fiber stickers and apply it to all the parts you sell, it'll work like a charm.

Truth, most of the guys over there are super gay for carbon fiber...

[z31maniac]

And I was getting all excited about the subframe connectors.

[DCColegrove]

And I was getting all excited about the subframe connectors.

When I said I was working on that I was actually talking about bracing the car front to rear.... With a bolt in roll cage.

Actually connecting the carriers together would be kind of a bad idea... There really is such a thing as too rigid.


Caution Rant:

As a matter of fact I just had this insane discussion with a guy about dropping down through the trunk and bracing to the rear sub-frame... I just couldn't get the point across that that would cause shit to break...

He walked away thinking I was an idiot, because don't you know... "He auto crosses an e30 and has owned three" ... I didn't bother to point out to him that I've owned 7 e10s, 19 e30s (4 Ms) let alone what my job was at BMW AG and NA.

... Done Ranting:

At any rate, I'm heading down to the shop today and then down to my buds shop to do some preliminary R&D on a rear brace like the new e30 one for the Z3/M roadster.

[Brian D]

As a matter of fact I just had this insane discussion with a guy about dropping down through the trunk and bracing to the rear sub-frame... I just couldn't get the point across that that would cause shit to break...

He walked away thinking I was an idiot, because don't you know... "He auto crosses an e30 and has owned three" ... I didn't bother to point out to him that I've owned 7 e10s, 19 e30s (4 Ms) let alone what my job was at BMW AG and NA.

And that experience is what makes you invaluable as a manufacturer. As I've gotten older I realize that anyone can screw shit onto a car, it takes someone with true knowledge to make a car better. When I do the M30 swap, I'm going to get headwork and a cam from a guy 1200 miles away from me, because he knows his shit. Daniel, thank you for being obscessed with the E30-mine will be better because of it.